Posted by Bryan Hodges, Last modified by Bryan Hodges on 07 November 2017 10:54 AM

Attached to this article is the list of new validation rules and validation rule updates that will be implemented on January 03, 2018. The PDF document attached is a visual representation of how the new rules and updated rules appear in the Virginia Elite system. It is hoped this additional document will answer any questions and help users prepare for the upcoming changes.

All new/updated rules have an effective date of on or after 01/03/2018 based on the “Unit Notified by Dispatch Date/Time”. Any rule being replaces has an effective date of on or before 01/03/2018. Adding these date statements allows us to publish these rules as far in advance as possible so that all agencies and 3rd party vendors have an opportunity to review the upcoming changes.

New Schematron files (v3.3.4 and v3.4.0) are in the process of being created and will be posted to the NEMSIS website when ready. For agencies that have purchased an EMS system from ImageTrend, these updates have been posted to the ImageTrend Library. For all other agencies that use a different 3rd party vendor, an additional notice will be sent out when the Schematron files have been posted.

Please review this document. There are two items that have special notes. One of those cover billing data (ePayment.01 and ePayment.50 found on pages 5 & 6) that we are required to collect. OEMS has made recommendations on how those items can be addressed by each agency. The other item with special notes is facility destination information (eDispostion.01). Information on this element can be found on pages 13 and 14 of the attached PDF.

Should an issue be discovered, the rule in question will be set with an effective date of on or before the date reported so that no additional records will be affected. While this will not correct any potential issues with previously received records, it will prevent the rule in question from affecting any new records received or posted. Then a corrected rule will be created and published when the next set of validation rules are setup. Previously, we had addressed issues with validation rules by deactivating the rule in question. This caused unforeseen issues with existing records. By addressing issues with validation rules in this manner, we hope to mitigate any issues going forward.

As OEMS now switches focus from the NEMSIS 3 implementation to Data Quality, validation rule updates/changes are going to be implemented more frequently through the end of 2018. Agencies and vendors can expect OEMS to publish updates to these about every 90 to 120 days if needed. This will allow OEMS to address any quality deficiencies as they are discovered. We will still give agencies and vendors a minimum of 30 days’ notice before activating any new or updated validation rules.